About Us

The Syria Campaign is a human rights organisation that supports Syria’s heroes in their struggle for freedom and democracy.

The situation in Syria today could scarcely be further from the hopeful days of 2011 when hundreds of thousands of peaceful demonstrators took to the streets to demand freedom and democracy. Today, more than half the country has been driven from their homes, more than five million pushed over the borders into neighbouring countries and further afield. Upwards of 500,000 people have been killed and more than ten million are in need of urgent humanitarian assistance in what has become a world war.

Despite it all Syrians continue to save the lives the world refuses to: volunteer rescue workers run towards the airstrikes to snatch lives from under the rubble, medics have moved entire hospitals underground for protection, and aid workers work around the clock knowing no-one should go to bed hungry.

Syrian civil society is also proving another world is possible: local councils provide civil administration, female organisers build empowered and engaged movements of activists, and teachers are lecturing outdoors when their classrooms have been closed by extremists groups.

Rooted in human rights we combine the best elements of creative communication, digital mobilisation, storytelling, and political analysis to support the demands of some of the most courageous frontline humanitarians and activists in the world.

Read more about our work here and see our 2016 and 2017 annual reports.

Frequently Asked Questions

These are based on real questions we get asked. Please ask us more and we’ll answer them below.

Why was The Syria Campaign created?

We launched on the third anniversary of the uprising in March 2014 at a time when Syria was slipping off the media and political agendas of countries around the world. As human rights activists we wanted to do what we could to refocus global attention and action on Syria.

So much has changed since we started: the emergence of Isis, the ‘refugee crisis’ reaching European shores, and the involvement of even more countries in bombing Syria.

Syria today is back in the headlines. However, despite the immense scale of human suffering and instability there is a lack of serious effort from world leaders to end the violence.

Maybe after nearly eight years it’s fatigue, maybe it’s thinking it’s too complex, maybe it’s just seeing only bad guys in the news. Whatever the reasons, we aim to overcome these barriers working with our Syrian partners to garner international support to accelerate an end to the violence.

Only by listening to the demands of Syrians and standing with those who want a peaceful and democratic future for the country will stability come to Syria. There are no solutions to the conflict in Syria that can be drafted up in faraway capitals or dropped from the sky. Through our campaigns elevating the heroic and inspiring work of civilians on the ground we hope to mobilise support for the only people who can build the future they deserve: Syrians themselves.

What do you do?

We create campaigns and creative interventions to support Syria’s heroic civil society.

We’ve raised the profile of groups such as the White Helmets rescue workers, helping secure them millions of dollars to continue their life-saving work and making them famous around the world. We’ve supported some of the bravest women in the world taking their ‘Freedom Bus’ across Europe. We’ve successfully campaigned to block Europe selling aviation fuel to the Assad regime, secured a UN resolution banning the trade in Syrian antiquities, and supported Syrian humanitarians calling out the problems at the heart of the UN’s flawed aid operation. All this and much, much more.

How are you governed?

The Syria Campaign is a non-profit organisation registered as a company in the United Kingdom as The Voices Project—company number 8825761. (You can’t be a registered charity in the UK if most of your work is campaigning.)

Who is on your Board?

We have Board of Directors who are legally responsible for the organisation and oversee strategy and finance for The Syria Campaign. The Chair of the Board is the Syrian-American architect, writer, and founder of the Karam Foundation, Lina Sergie Attar and the other board members are Daniel Gorman, Ben Stewart, Sawsan Asfari, and Tim Dixon.

The Syria Campaign is fiercely independent and has accepted no money from governments, corporations or anyone directly involved in the Syrian conflict. This allows us full autonomy to advocate for whatever is needed to save lives.

Seed funding for The Syria Campaign was provided by The Asfari Foundation with supporting funds from other Syrian donors across the world who were frustrated by global inaction on Syria.

We are grateful for support from the Rockefeller Brothers Foundation, Oak Foundation, and other anonymous donors. If you represent a philanthropic body interested to support campaigning and advocacy to protect and support Syria’s civil society please get in touch.

Are you affiliated with any side in the Syrian conflict?

We are not tied to any political group in Syria or anywhere else. We support universally-agreed human rights and freedoms. We support the aspirations of Syrians to live in a country that respects those rights and where people of different backgrounds, cultures and faiths live alongside each other in peace.

We criticise anyone violating human rights, no matter what side they’re on.

Do you provide emergency relief?

The Syria Campaign does not directly provide emergency relief to individuals.

As a campaigning organisation we have run campaigns to unlock more government aid, improve access to food and medicine, and create momentum for an effective peace process.

There are many excellent organisations working on the ground in Syria who do provide emergency relief to people in need.

How can I get involved?

Once you’re finished reading this you can scroll to the bottom of the page and sign up to join The Syria Campaign. We’ll send you our latest campaigns and news over email.

Then head over and ‘like’ The Syria Campaign on Facebook and ‘follow’ us on Twitter and Instagram. Spend some time on our Facebook images and videos. It’ll give you a sense of some of the work we do.

How can I get in contact with The Syria Campaign?

For all enquiries please email [email protected]. We read every email we receive and respond to every contact sometimes this may take a few days as our tiny team is hard at work putting together campaigns.For media enquiries please email [email protected]

You can also get in touch with us through social media – on Facebook or Twitter.

Who is on the team?

The Syria Campaign is a 9-person team of Syrian and international campaigners and communication professionals with backgrounds in organisations including Oxfam, Greenpeace, the UN and the BBC. To get in touch with the team send an email here. To get in touch with the team send an email here.

Thank you for asking! If you are interested in working for us please keep an eye on our jobs page where we post new roles.